These pictures show three stolen luxury cars stripped and broken down to their components as part of a £600,000 racket to sell spare parts across Europe via eBay.

The Mercedes, Audi and Land Rover were among 41 prestige vehicles snatched during house burglaries in the Manchester area and then driven back to warehouses to be taken apart by a gang of 'Del boy' traders.

They raised hundreds of thousands of pounds selling the parts on eBay and other internet auction sites to unsuspecting buyers.

Stripped: A broken down Audi RS4, one of the luxury cars taken down to their component parts by a gang based in Manchester, Blackburn and Leicester

Spare parts: The component parts of this stolen Land Rover were sold on eBay and other online auction sites to buyers across Europe

But the gang were caught when a prospective buyer responded to an advert for 'genuine Audi RS4 Recaro interior bucket seats' for sale on eBay.

He visited a salvage centre in Wythenshawe, Manchester to buy them, but became 'suspicious' and tipped off police who discovered further bases in Blackburn and Leicester.

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Police released photographs of the broken up motors as Shoayb Patel, 26, of Blackburn, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

Arif Gorji, 31, also of Blackburn, was jailed for two years and eight months. Both admitted concealing criminal property.

Convicted: Shoayb Patel (left) was sentenced to three years and four months, while his business partner Arif Gorji (right) received two years and eight months for his part in the £600,000 eBay car part racket

The men sold component parts of stolen luxury cars, including Audi TTs, BMW 550s and BMW M5s, over a two-and-a-half year period through their firm JG Salvage in Wythenshawe, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Gorji, who had previously been jailed for selling counterfeit clothing on eBay in 2008, set up an account called UKSALVAGE2012 on the auction site, which was used to sell more than £18,000 worth of stolen car parts.

Neil Fryman, prosecuting, told the jury: 'This case is about car ringing - stealing cars, breaking them up and then selling on the parts.

'Various people within this enterprise played different roles. The vehicles were pretty high value and pretty much prestige-type vehicles.'

Following the tip-off from the prospective buyer, police uncovered the car ringing racket in October 2010 when they stopped a Ford Transit van driven by two accomplices of Gorji and Patel after they dropped off car parts at the Wythenshawe site.

Broken down: This Mercedes E500 was discovered in the Wythenshawe lock-up, with its wheels, engine, gearbox and even body panels stripped off

Later that day, officers raided the yard and discovered the unit was being used to store car component parts. They seized a large number of high value items, including engines, gearboxes and body panels.

Police found a list of 19 cars - 17 of which matched records of stolen vehicles.

A further raid on a breakers yard 120 miles away in Leicester uncovered chassis and parts from 14 stolen cars and two sets of number plates from vehicles stolen in London.

It emerged that identifying numbers had been ground down from the stolen parts.

A third raid, in March last year in Blackburn, found Gorji and Patel loading a large heavy goods vehicle bound for Germany with engines and gearboxes.

The 20 engines from stolen vehicles on the truck were worth an estimated £127,000.

Portuguese cousins Jose Joaquim, 36, and Helder Santos, 33, who ran the Leicester breakers yard, were convicted of money laundering offences and were each jailed for two years.

A fifth man, Ayas Patel, 34 from Bolton, was given a year's suspended sentence and ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work.

Police are hunting a sixth member of the gang, Imran Chokwala, 30, who is believed to be on the run in India.